Consuming the Garlic Plant - various ways to do so

The garlic plant can be consumed and administered in various forms, both in its natural and supplementary states, as well as for medicinal and culinary purposes.

Garlic supplements which are taken for the health benefits of garlic could be garlic extract made into garlic pills, garlic capsules, and garlic tablets. Garlic can also be made into garlic powder and garlic tinctures or liquid extracts. Another way of consuming garlic is by drinking garlic juice.

Then, there is garlic in its natural state, which can be used for both medicinal and culinary purposes. Fresh, raw garlic is by far the most pungent and potent, both in terms of taste and health promoting properties. Garlic powder or garlic paste can also be used for cooking.

There are many interesting recipes involving the garlic plant, but these are not the focus of this website. We do have simple steps on how to make garlic butter as well as an easy garlic bread recipe teaching you how to make homemade garlic bread. These are simple ways to add garlic to your diet to reap its many health benefits.

Eating Fresh, Raw Garlic

Fresh, raw garlic could be chopped up into small pieces and mixed with your meals. Entire cloves of raw garlic can also be directly eaten. One thing to note - chopping, crushing or mincing raw garlic causes chemical reactions to take place, which allows many of the beneficial and health-promoting compounds to form.

Either way, the taste of eating raw garlic would be very intense, and takes some getting used to. Its strong taste can be somewhat alleviated and soothed by mixing it with raw honey (must be raw).

It is a good idea to work your way up slowly, starting with a small dosage and increasing it gradually. For health and healing purposes, a good starting dosage would be 3 to 5 large cloves of garlic.

Cooking with Garlic

If cooking with garlic, you can afford to be a lot more generous with the amounts of garlic you are using. Because heat and cooking destroys a lot of the health benefits of garlic, you would thus need to use more of it - feel free to use several bulbs of the garlic plant in your soups, curries, sauces, etc.

When cooking with garlic, it is a good idea to first chop, crush or mince the garlic into small pieces while it is still raw, and then allowing it to sit for about 10 minutes before adding it into the mix. As mentioned earlier, this would allow chemical reactions to take place and for beneficial substances to form, improving the health benefits of the food which you are preparing.

Drinking Garlic Juice

Another way to reap the many garlic health benefits is to juice the garlic plant. But garlic juice is ridiculously distasteful and I usually mix it with other juices which are a lot more palatable.

Garlic juice adds an oomph to whatever juice mixture you are preparing, but do be forewarned that it may 'spoil' the taste of your juice. Personally, I do not mind it, but I am sure many people would.

Do also be warned that garlic juice will leave its mark behind on your juicer, in the form of a pungent garlic smell!

As with the other aspects of consuming the garlic plant, be sensible and start small, and slowly work your way up according to your tolerance and taste preferences.

Garlic Syrup

Garlic syrup can be used to treat the common cold, coughs and sore throats. Garlic syrup is made simply by boiling cloves of garlic in water for about half a day.

Using Garlic Supplements

Garlic pills, garlic tablets, garlic tinctures and other garlic supplements containing garlic extract are today popularly used in attempts to obtain the health benefits of garlic. Some studies have shown that these supplements do help with certain health conditions.

Unfortunately, most of the garlic supplements in the market are of poor quality, and taking them is unlikely to do you much good. Further, the healthful properties of the garlic plant are tied to its pungent smell and taste; since garlic supplements do not have that quality, they also lack the health benefits of fresh, raw garlic.

Fresh and raw garlic is still, by far, the best way to obtain the medicinal properties of garlic. And, whole garlic also contains many beneficial compounds and phytochemicals, yet to be discovered and studied by Man, which are not present in garlic extract-type of supplements.

Organic Garlic

If you can find it and can afford it, I would recommend that you only consume organic garlic. Organic garlic contains the health benefits of organic food in general, which include higher nutrient levels, more health boosting compounds, and lower levels of harmful chemicals and pesticides.

Seeking out Good Quality Garlic

If you are eating garlic for its health and medicinal benefits, then it would be especially important for you to find a good quality source of the garlic plant.

A garlic bulb which is of good quality would be of a strong white color, and would contain about 8 to 12 large cloves. If a garlic bulb has many - 30 to 50 - small cloves, and is yellowish in color, then it is of inferior quality.

Conclusion

As discussed in this article, there are many ways to consume the garlic plant. The best way to obtain the numerous garlic health benefits is still, without a shadow of a doubt, to have it fresh and raw. It will be intense, but it's great!

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